Graham T. Reed: The 2023 SPIE Gold Medal

Graham Reed is a professor of silicon photonics at the University of Southampton. Reed is acknowledged as one of the early pioneers in the field of silicon photonics, having founded his Silicon Photonics Group in 1989 at the University of Surrey where he was professor of optoelectronics and head of the Department of Electronic Engineering. Since its inception, Reed's Silicon Photonics Group has provided numerous world-leading results and is particularly well known for its work on silicon optical modulators. Reed is also known for his work on silicon optical modulators, having published the first design of a depletion modulator, now an industry standard, as well as landmark high-speed modulators. Reed is currently a member of six international conference committees and has published approximately 500 journal and conference papers in the field of silicon photonics, as well as giving more than 170 invited talks at major international conferences.

An SPIE Fellow, Reed has given numerous invited and plenary talks at SPIE conferences and served on several SPIE conference committees. He has served as co-chair of SPIE Photonex; as chair and co-chair of the OPTO conference at SPIE Photonics West; and is the founder and co-chair of the Silicon Photonics conference at SPIE Photonics West. In 2013, Reed received the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Crompton Medal for Achievement in Energy for his work in silicon photonics. In 2014, he was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Merit Award, and in 2019 he was awarded the Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC) Individual Contributor Award.

“Graham Reed is truly the pioneer of the field of silicon photonics, and he continues to be one
of its most prominent world leaders,” says Lionel Kimerling, the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, and director of the MIT Microphotonics Center. “His achievements continue to impact the field as they have throughout his career. He and his group are best known for their silicon modulator research. Most recently, I was particularly impressed with the report from Reed’s group of a new data rate world record of >100 Gb/s with a silicon MZI transmitter. This achievement was based on remarkable innovations in photonic device design, electronic contacts, and circuit layout to produce a prototype that surpassed the IPSR-I roadmap performance timeline some 10 years ahead of expectations. Reed has led numerous high-profile research programs, with each having important impact on the evolution of silicon photonics technology. His work is embedded in today’s rapidly growing silicon photonics industry, as he is genuinely a father of silicon photonics.”

Meet the other 2023 SPIE Society Award recipients.

Read more about Graham Reed and the SPIE Gold Medal.